


The Full Halloween Experience

by emmbrancsxx0



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Halloween, Halloween Costumes, M/M, Men of Letters Bunker (Supernatural), Team Free Will (Supernatural), Team Free Will 2.0 (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26484328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmbrancsxx0/pseuds/emmbrancsxx0
Summary: Dean is hell-bent on giving Jack a normal Halloween.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 25
Kudos: 162





	The Full Halloween Experience

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm jumping the gun because it's not even October but like - it's not my fault that September 1st hits and I'm like, "It's Halloween."
> 
> Anyway, I saw [this post](https://ruby-white-rabbit.tumblr.com/post/627522579510493184/i-wish-i-could-credit-the-genius-who-did-this-but) on tumblr and got inspired. So sue me.

The main problem with having a three-year-old kid in the body of a late-twenties-man was this: Jack didn’t have the chance to grow up with the usual, all-American childhood experiences. There was no Santa at Christmas, no leprechaun traps on St. Paddy’s Day, no Easter Bunny, and - most importantly - no trick-or-treating.

Dean had thought giving Sammy a regular Halloween when he was a kid had been tough. (He’d steal “scary” masks from a local drug store and take Sam door to door in whatever town they were happened to be in, using a pillow case from the motel as a candy bag. Sam was never all that into it, and Dean was usually the one to eat all the candy afterward, but Dean would be damned if Sam didn’t experience Halloween like every other kid, like it or not.) But, with Jack, it was impossible. It wasn’t like he could knock on people’s doors trying to pass Jack off for the giant toddler he was.

So Dean had to get creative.

On the afternoon of Halloween, Cas drove Jack out to the mall (the good one, the one that took an hour and half to get to) to pick out a costume. Jack had scrunched his face in confusion when the idea was brought up. “Why?” he’d asked thoughtfully. “Children... don’t knock on our door for candy. They don’t even know we’re here.” But, somehow, they’d convinced him without giving their plan away. Dean just hoped Cas could spend the afternoon alone with Jack without spilling the beans.

As soon as they left, Dean and Sam got to work. They covered the bunker - from the kitchen, to the bedrooms, and even the gym - in decorations. Fake spiderwebs with plastic critters, hollow skeletons and severed head, hanging sheets made to look like ghosts, and plastic jack-o-lanterns with LED candles emitting orange glows from the triangle eyes and razor-pointed smiles. Sam hooked up his phone to speakers to play creepy music that echoed through the halls, and Dean put some dry ice in bowls and pots, scattered all around, to make smoke. All they had to do was turn out all lights and put on the red emergency lighting for the full effect.

Dean was in the library, setting one of the “clues” for Jack’s puzzle in a book when Sam came in. “All set?” he asked, barely looking over as he placed the book back on the shelf, making sure its spine stuck out further than the rest of them so Jack could spot it easily.

“Yeah, think so,” Sam said with a huff. He flapped his arms out, forlorn, and asked, “But is any of this really necessary?”

Dean rolled his eyes. He wasn’t letting Sam’s weird anti-Halloween attitude ruin his hard work. “Dude,” he griped. “We’ve been over this. _Yes_.”

Sam didn’t appear convinced. “He killed _God_. I don’t think he’s gonna find any of this scary.”

“It’s not about that! Halloween’s about cheap thrills and low-stakes horror! Get with the program!”

Sam gave a little laughing, eyeing him skeptically. “You’re sure this is for Jack, right? Not yourself?”

Dean opened his mouth to argue the accusation - even though, okay, sure, he was having a lot of fun - but he never got the chance. The loud creak of the bunker’s outer door sounded. It was followed by Cas’ voice. His words were still muffled by steel and concrete, but he was clearly talking louder than normal to “subtly” alert the brothers of their arrival. Dean didn’t have time to roll his eyes at the tactic.

His heart leaped in a mixture of panic and excitement. “Get the lights!” he hissed. Sam dashed for the breaker box in the map room and killed the switches for the main lights. Everything was pitch-black for a second before a boom echoed off the high ceilings and a red glow illuminated the room. Dean scrambled for the door to the back hallway to hide, and Sam went in the direction of the kitchen.

The front door banged open. Dean pressed himself against the wall and strained to listen over the music (it sounded like it was playing the main theme to _The Shining_ ). There was a gasp, and then a panicked, “Cas!” The sight of the emergency lights must have freaked Jack out.

Dean risked a peek around the doorway, but the ceiling obstructed his view of Cas and Jack. He heard Cas say something he couldn’t make out, but it must have calmed Jack down, because he said, “I don’t understand.”

“Come with me,” Cas said. He led Jack down the stairs, the sound of their shoes clunking on the metal. When they came into view, Jack was dressed in a hideous red cape and a gaudy vest, perpetuating the idea of what a typical vamp was supposed to look like in the eyes of a civilian. There was a cheap straw cowboy hat on Cas’ head, and Dean broke out into a grin at the sight of it, even though Cas had half-assed it again by wearing his usual suit and trenchcoat. A plastic bag with the Halloween store’s logo was swinging at his side.

“Where are Sam and Dean?” Jack said, looking around. Dean hid himself a little better to avoid Jack spotting him as the kid’s eyes lit up at the sight of the decorations.

“I think they left a note,” Cas said with probably a lot more gusto than he needed to. He pointed at the folded piece of paper on the map table.

Jack shot him a giddy smile (that, admittedly, made Dean proud of his handiwork) before swiping the note up. He held it up, cleared his throat, and read aloud, “ _Jack, the bunker’s warding is down_ \- Wait, is it really?”

“Keep reading,” Cas told him.

Still looking concerned, but deciding to trust Cas, Jack continued, “ _The bunker’s warding is down. Ghosts and demons have taken over. You’re the only one who can stop them._ ” Dean mouthed along to the words of his own note as Jack read. “ _We hid one of Rowena’s soul catchers somewhere in the bunker. To find it, you’ll need to do your research. Hurry. From, Sam and Dean._ ” He put the note back down, brows furrowed as he turned to Cas. “Do my research? What does that mean?”

Cas gave an exaggerated, eyes glinting happily even in the low-light. Jack walked into the library, synthetic cape flapping out after him. “My research,” he muttered seriously as he approached the bookshelf. Cas trailed after him, staying at a distance. “Cas, look!” Jack exclaimed. He ripped the book with the first clue off of the shelf.

The clues took Jack from room to room, until he eventually got to the end. Instead of a soul catcher, his prize was a bucket full of candy, and a jump-scare when Sam and Dean popped out behind him shouting, “Boo!” The whole thing took about an hour.

Afterward, they all went to the Dean Cave to watch some scary movies and carve a pumpkin. Candy wrappers littered the floor, and Jack was still smiling as he bit into his fifth Milky Way.

“Okay, I think we’re done,” Dean said, hands sticky with pumpkin guts as he placed the lit candle inside for the finishing touch. He sat, cross-legged, on the floor across from Jack, the newspapers they spread out to protect the rug crinkling every time he shifted. Sam and Cas watched on from the chairs, and the movie went forgotten.

Jack beamed proudly at the jack-o-lantern’s crooked smile before looking up, eyes moving to Sam, then Cas, and finally to Dean. “This was fun,” he announced.

Dean tried to bite back his own smile, but it was hard to do, especially because even Sam looked delighted. “Glad you liked it, kid.” And he _was_ glad. Hell, he was _happy_. Jack had more real-life scares in three years than most people had in eighty. He deserved a normal night of fake frights, sweets, and pumpkin carving. Maybe they all did, after everything. Maybe this is what life was now - not exactly normal, but something just left of it. Dean thought he could live with that.

“Yeah, and now I think it’s time for bed,” Sam said, grunting as he slapped his palms on his thighs and hefted himself up. “C’mon, Jack. You’re gonna crash from that sugar high in like, two seconds.”

Jack nodded up at him, yawning. He untucked his legs from beneath him and got up. Before following Sam out, he shot Dean one last bright, contented smile and said, “Goodnight.”

“‘Night,” Dean said. He and Cas watched Jack walk out of the room.

When he was gone, Dean let himself deflate tiredly. He had no idea putting together a haunted house and a candy hunt could be so exhausting. Cleaning everything up would be another task, this one a lot less fun. He ran his hands down his eyes, forgetting about the sticky pumpkin innards, and pulled a sour face. He sighed, too tired to care about it, but it was at that point he realized Cas was looking at him. He could feel the weight of those blue eyes, the warmth.

Dean looked over sleepily, meeting his gaze.

After a moment, Cas said gently, “I think he had fun.”

Dean looked at his lap, trying not to feel too satisfied with himself. “Yeah, I think it was good.” He shuffled closer to Cas and leaned back on his legs. “He liked it, right?” He doubted Jack was just pretending to not hurt Dean’s feelings - because the kid sucked at lying. But it didn’t hurt to check.

Cas rested his hands on Dean’s shoulders, a light touch. “He did.”

Dean let his eyes slip closed, a warm smile pulling on his mouth. Cas dropped a kiss to his hairline, making Dean hum. He said, “I better make sure he didn’t hide any nougat under his pillow for a midnight snack.”

Dean snorted. It actually wasn’t a bad idea. He wondered if eating some candy would wake him up enough for clean-up duty, but he guessed that could wait until tomorrow. His stomach was probably full of enough Reese’s and Snickers to last the rest of the year, anyway.

“’Kay. I’ll be in in a minute.”

“Okay.”

Cas stood up, swinging his leg over Dean and narrowly avoiding his head. He said, “Happy Halloween, Dean.”

Dean thought back to Halloween twelve years ago. To witches and sixty-six seals. If you asked him back then whether he’d one day turn his home into a fake haunted house so that his son could eat some candy, and that the same angel who almost leveled a town would be kissing him goodnight in the bed they shared, Dean would have called you crazy.

As Cas left, Dean said after him, “Happy Halloween.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ty for reading! Please check back here on AO3 or on [my tumblr](https://valleydean.tumblr.com/) in October for news about my annual [Halloween Deancas Horror Fic](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907248). (I'm thinking Salem Witch Trials this year??)


End file.
